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It is a widespread belief that corruption thrives in non-transparent
environments. But what constitutes a transparent environment?

Being transparent is the willingness to be open and share explicit information.
In business, this means sharing information with the public on how money is
made, lost and spent. Transparency itself is a reflection of honest actions and
good management. It is built on intimacy, from which trust grows.

To the most relevant of leaders, transparency is a form of control and
accountability.

Transparency is beneficial as it enables feedback loops and includes
individuals, teams and organisations. It can be good organisational strategy; if
an organisation is open, they must communicate this. When an organisation
communicates openly and frequently with the media and public, there are few
vacuums left to fill with misinformation.

At work, most of us are under some form of scrutiny. Yet increasing
transparency decreases everyone’s risk, while enabling value creation. And
transparency enables workspace awareness.

Documented

Transparency is also the consequence of well-oriented and complete
policies. South African institutions, like its heavily regulated banking
industry, have been forced to be more and more transparent, especially around
banking fees.

As a customer, you can check and compare bank fees and make your own
decisions. Banks in South Africa are also controlled by a slew of Codes and
Acts, chief among them the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, Code of Banking
Practice, National Credit Act and the Consumer Protection Act.

Other industries, such as medical aids, are similarly regulated. In
fact, the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill will soon be published in the
government gazette for public comment. The Advertising Standards Authority
furthermore provides a prompt, accessible and cost-efficient mechanism to
ensure that advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful.

Governments around the world are also taking action. Kenya, for example,
recently enacted legislation which compels all government departments in that
country to publish information pertaining to the awarding of tenders, the
amounts of the tenders, as well as the names of the directors in the companies
involved in the transactions.

Need to know

What is transparency not? Transparency is not the intentional or
unintentional withholding of information. It is never vague or ambiguous and it
does not obfuscate. Within companies, transparency is not dictated from the top
down. Instead, it is a two-way street.

Secrecy is the antonym of transparency – a way to hide mistakes – and
often is intended to conceal bad management. Most crisis communication cases
have a secret or lie at the bottom of them. While people often forgive
mistakes, they do not forgive deceit, deceitfulness, dishonesty, lying,
mendaciousness, mendacity or untruthfulness.

Furthermore, secrecy increases the likelihood of confidential information
being leaked. Consider the likes of WikiLeaks, the Panama Papers or even the
Ashley Madison hack.

Taxpayers want and need to know how their money is being used. The real
challenge for the public and private sectors is finding a balance between
security and privacy because, sometimes, complete transparency is not always
possible, nor is it necessarily desirable.

According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index of
2016, there
is a distinct connection between corruption and inequality. When
traditional politicians fail to tackle corruption, people become cynical.

When people are
cynical, they increasingly turn to populism and populist leaders, who promise
to break the cycle of corruption and privilege.

Now, consider the
political situation we find in South Africa today and the inequalities that
exist in our society.

Safeguards

A democratic country,
South Africa placed 71st out of 180 countries in Transparency
International’s 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index and, apart from active civil
society groups and a free press, is further policed by a Public Protector, Corruption
Watch and similar corruption-busting NGOs.

In addition, South
Africa’s efforts to deepen transparency in its budget processes have been
recognised internationally, jointly winning the 2017 Open Budget Index (OBI)
survey with New Zealand.

The Electronic
Tolling Company (ETC), the company that provides the technology and collection
services on the Gauteng improved freeways is another organisation taking
transparency to heart. With e-tolls obviously being a hot and contentious
issue, the company has opted for an open-door policy.

“Our doors are open.
We are happy to provide information on e-tolling and our business model,
information about where the money goes or answer any question about the
project,” says Coenie Vermaak, chief project officer of the Gauteng Open Road
Tolling (GORT) Project at the ETC.

But talk is cheap,
and so the ETC decided to publish an infographic to outline how e-tolls are
collected on behalf of the government. This is in direct response to what the
public have been asking for: greater transparency about where the e-toll money
goes.

“Contradictory
to what many people believe, ETC owner Kapsch has not taken vast sums of money
out of the country,” explains Vermaak. “In fact, it has invested close to R800
million into South Africa. This money will likely be written off once the GORT
contract has been finalised.”

Vermaak adds that
ETC’s books are audited by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) who are also the
company's auditors. In addition, the company is subject to SANRAL's auditors as
well as to the scrutiny of the Auditor General on a permanent basis.

“Everything we do is
audited, verified, validated and checked, inside-out,” Vermaak says. “We have
adopted transparency as the cornerstone of our governance policy – without it,
it would be impossible for South African’s to hold organisations and
governments to account.”

Enshrined

The South African
Constitution, recognised as being one of the best in the world, stipulates that
the South African public and media have the right to access information. According
to the Promotion of Access to Information Act:

"One of the basic values and principles
governing public administration is transparency. And the Constitution demands
that transparency ‘must be fostered by providing the public with timely,
accessible and accurate information.’ […]"

It is often said that
we live in an information age, from which people and companies cannot hide.
This phenomenon has led to growing consumer intelligence and better informed
citizens, all of whom compel companies and governments to be more transparent.

Most would agree that
social media has played a massive role in the information age. It has become a
useful tool because, as human beings, we overwhelmingly trust the recommendations
we get from our friends and family since we expect them to be more transparent.

Even if that trust
fails, there are backups in the form of journalists likeWendy Knowler – arguably South Africa’s leading consumer
commentator – and a professional that has built a successful career tackling
consumer rights issues, all the while being respected by corporates for her
fair, accurate and balanced reporting.

There are also
pockets of South African excellence as far as corporate transparency goes.
Examples include Clover, Pick ‘n Pay and FNB, which continue to excel in the Reputation Institute of South Africa’s annual
corporate reputation study, which lists and ranks South Africa’s most reputable
companies.

David North, Pick 'n
Pay's group executive for strategy and corporate affairs, says reputational
strength stems from integrity, which evolves into loyalty. "When
organisations act with integrity, the result is likely to be a good
reputation."

Any company’s reputation is important, because it drives supportive
behaviour and, through the support of its stakeholders, allows it to achieve
results. For consumers, it's all about trust, which has to be earned – think
verified Twitter accounts and SABS-approved certifications.

Virginia Magapatona,
FNB Corporate Affairs Executive adds to this. "As economic conditions
tighten, customers place an even higher premium on trust and the ability of a
brand to exceed their needs."

Magapatona says research has shown that
companies can also enhance trust by developing new services that develop this
trust and add value for customers on a consistent basis.

Tristan Wiggill is a writer, columnist, photographer and editor. He is also the owner of Road Transport News.